(THE FEDERALIST) – Gary and Judi Eubanks are one of a kind. Both in their 60s, Judi is a skilled pianist and Gary can often be found playing pick-up basketball with the young people he used to coach. They have two sons and a handful of grandkids, and they’re heavily involved in their local church, where Judi is one of the piano players and Gary is almost always either leading worship or fixing the heating or air conditioning.
That’s because the duo also owns All Temperature Systems, a heating, cooling, and refrigeration business situated about halfway between the Chain O’Lakes and Parfreyville in the 6,000-resident town of Waupaca, Wisconsin. Though this couple is unique, a big part of their story is all too commonplace: They’re victims of the debilitating worker shortage.
The Eubankses have been running the business since 1985, but back then it was called Omits Refrigeration Service. Just after their first son Joe was born, Gary and Judi were living in Houston and realized they didn’t want to raise kids in a city. So they moved up to Waupaca, the small town where Judi was born and raised, and took over Omits Refrigeration on April 1 that year so that its owner could retire. They acquired another heating and cooling business 15 years later in 2000 and became All Temperature Systems.
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